Pennsylvania campuses go smoke-free overnight

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  With virtually no warning, smoking at 14 of Pennsylvania's state-owned universities has been banned anywhere on campus  even outdoors.

The action has sparked protests around the state by some of the 110,000 students in the State System of Higher Education, who received word of the ban by e-mail late Wednesday  a day before a new state law forbidding smoking in most workplaces and public spaces took effect.

The move to make campuses systemwide completely smoke-free is apparently unprecedented among state-funded Pennsylvania universities, but the American Lung Association said more than 130 colleges and universities across the country have such policies.